Posted on 10/14/2006 2:42:21 PM PDT by george76
Robert Burke To Be Sentenced In February.
A former air traffic controller accused of planting homemade bombs in March outside the Grand Junction homes of four co-workers and a Federal Aviation Administration official pleaded guilty Friday to a single count that could land him in prison for 20 years.
Robert Burke, 54, who was arrested in Utah in April, was indicted May 2 by a federal grand jury on a host of charges. Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to a charge of malicious damage to a building used in interstate commerce.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn said the charge is punishable by five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Prosecutors said they will recommended a term of 10 years when Burke is sentenced on Feb. 2.
Burke had worked for Serco Group PLC, a British company that staffs air traffic control towers at airports in Grand Junction and 55 other locations. He was fired in 2004 after working for Serco for four years.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has said the Grand Junction bombs were similar to a device that exploded at Serco offices in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in February.
Nobody was injured only minor property damage was reported when three of the bombs he allegedly planted in Grand Junction exploded. Two others were defused by bomb technicians.
Robert L. Burke, 54, could be out of prison by the time he is 64, Kathy Sherwood said.
“He’d still be young enough to carry a grudge,” Sherwood said. “I’d like him to be a little older.”
Burke on Friday pleaded guilty to one count in connection with the planting of five bombs March 24 at the homes of former co-workers.
Federal prisoners must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/10/13/10_14_1a_Burke.html
" The plea agreement...includes a provision Burke will not be prosecuted for similar bombs that exploded in Kansas and Tennessee. "
The real crime here is that the justice system allowed this criminal to plea bargain to a lesser charge. He tried his best to kill a lot of people. That should be the charge. Insead he is being charged with being mean.
“He’d still be young enough to carry a grudge,” Sherwood said. “I’d like him to be a little older.”
This fellow is a loon. His intent was to do harm to people who had done nothing to him. Only providence kept that from happening. Frankly, I think that he would be getting off lightly with a twenty year sentence.
He was attempting to murder lots of people.
The justice system fails again.
" Burke ...pleaded guilty to one count in connection with the planting of five bombs ...at the homes of former co-workers. "
Not counting other states with other people.
WHAT??? He attempts to kill several people and he plea bargains it down to malicious damage? Unbelievable!
Thanks for the ping, george.
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